How different is watercolor painting to acrylic?

oh, and which is easier. watercolor or acrylic??





acrylic ryt?How different is watercolor painting to acrylic?
Watercolor paints and acrylic paints use the same pigments (colors). Some pigments are transparent; others are opaque. Watercolors and acrylics have different binders, so watercolor paintings remain water-soluble (they will smear if gotten wet), but acrylic paints dry to a hard, waterproof plastic. This difference also make watercolors easy to clean up, whereas acrylics are easy to clean up while still wet, but not once they dry. You can still scrape or scrub them off smooth glass or plastic.





Watercolors are generally layered, with a lower layer color modifying the color that is painted on top of it. Most watercolorists work from light to dark, and take advantage of the high degree of transparency that a watercolor wash affords. Traditional watercolorists will leave the white of the paper for the whites of the painting, although many painters break with tradition and use small amounts of opaque white.





Acrylics are water-soluble, but it is best to thin them with an acrylic medium rather than water, in order to make sure that there is enough polymer resin remaining to dry into a smooth surface. Clean your brushes thoroughly while they are still wet; otherwise the dried plastic acrylic paint will render your brushes useless.





Acrylics can be used in great variety of styles, from thin and transparent like watercolors, to thick impasto techniques like oil paintings. There are a couple of excellent books out on innovative and experimental acrylic painting techniques. I like to use acrylics on watercolor paper, painting the background using watercolor techniques, and the foreground using oil painting techniques. Many acrylics artists prefer canvas (which I also use at times).





Layering and correcting mistakes is easier with acrylics, because you can easily paint over a mistake with a new opaque layer.





When using watercolors, your new layer wets the color underneath, which can be useful for blending. It also requires finesse in order to avoid smearing the under-painting or creating muddy colors. Acrylics has the opposite problem: The paint dries quickly, and then it becomes impossible to blend the dried layer. If you want to re-blend, you need to do it before the paint dries. There are acrylic additives (media) that will slow the drying process. There are also some new types of acrylics that behave a little more like oil painting in their ability to stay moist and blend for a longer period of time.





Beginning watercolorists often paint pale, washed-out looking paintings. This is from using too much water, or too weak of a wash solution. For the darkest accents, watercolor can be used straight from the tube, with little or no water added.





I love both watercolors and acrylics. Watercolors requires more skills to obtain the textures and effects that you want. Watercolors require more up-front planning. Acrylics allows you to make corrections and develop the painting as an oil-painter would. It also has a lot of versatility.How different is watercolor painting to acrylic?
yeah they're different
you can't mistakes when you use watercolor. once your brush touches the paper it's a done deal. with acryllics, however, you can make mistakes and still be able to erase and redo them. personally, i think that though watercolor is difficult to handle, it gives a better effect.
The basic differences are these:





The amount of water (your solvent) is the main difference.





Acrylics you can work in layers covering the previous one. And you can work from dark to light or vice versa. You can do pretty much anything you want and still come up with the painting you want.





Watercolor needs planning. Changing your painting midway, adding or removing objects is almost impossible. You also need to work from light to dark.





Note:


It is very possible to make a watercolor painting using (good) acrylic paint. Just add water.


Be sure you use nice, heavy paper. It is really unnerving to have your paper warp while painting.





Both techniques require skil, training and loads of experimentation.
The answers so far have pretty good information. Artist quality paper is the most essential factor in painting in watercolors. The best papers are made in France and Italy and it's most economical to buy in 56 X 76 cm (22 X30 in.) sheets of at least 300g/m2 weight, (140 lb).


When you look at the prices for watercolor paint you'll be shocked compared to oils and acrylics, but the paint lasts a long time.


Do not buy watercolor ';sets'; because you will pay for brushes or paint colors you will never use. Most of the pigments in acrylics are used in watercolor paints, so you have some knowledge of their color mixing


characteristics.


The difference is that in watercolors, they can be transparent, semi- transparent, semi-opaque or opaque. For brushes, get a #3 liner or rigger, #s 6 and 12 round and a 1/2in. and 1in. flat.


You can not interchange brushes between the two mediums. You will also need a watercolor palette and you will not need to clean it after a painting session like for acrylics. The paints readily activate with water.